When I Went 'Into the Woods'

Into The Woods is a wonderful tale of how many of the fairytales we all know and love have come together and effected each other's paths through the woods. The most recent film (2014) was casted perfectly and, therefore, sold very well. Although many people enjoyed this film, including myself, some had a different opinion. A review of this film contradicts many people's feelings and challenges the love for such a musical; I talk about this review and how it made me feel about the film in this post.

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       One of America’s favorite pastimes is sitting back and watching a film with friends and family. This is becoming more and more common as the technologies advance and new and/or improved movies are being produced. A film that was more or less recently released and sold very well was Into The Woods directed by Stephen Sondheim. According to Jon Lisi, who, after viewing the film, wrote a review of it titled There Aren’t Many Reasons to Go ‘Into the Woods,’ the film was not worth the audience’s attention. This inspired me to watch the film myself because I have been wanting to and I needed to know if what Lisi said was true.

       First of all, I very much enjoyed the film. On the other hand, after reading Lisi’s review, I learned something new about the film that I had not previously noticed. Mr. Lisi mentions that there were no solo presentations of song during the entire film, which is shocking due to the fact that it is a musical. Also, the film has seemingly two separate endings: one where everyone has what they need to live happily ever after and one where everything goes awry again. This would be less of a disappointment if the rise in action had continued through the first ‘ending’ and climaxed at the next scene with a giant.

       Although these parts were slightly out of context, they did not take enough away from the storyline for anyone to claim it is not ‘worth the audience’s attention.’ This claim would mean that the entire movie was compromised, which I strongly disagree with. Lisi did not seen to understand many of the more symbolic aspects of the film that made it so wonderful, not to mention the amazing musical aspects heard throughout. Therefore, I understand what Mr. Lisi is saying, but I do not agree.

       Personally, I was not always allowed to watch things related to magic or princesses, so now that I am an adult and can watch these tales, I get very excited. I find it hard to dislike films and/or productions that endorse happily ever after, princes and princesses, or magic because it was something I always just had to imagine when others brought it up. Overall, this contributed to my liking of Into The Woods.

       As a result of the fact that the author did not enjoy the film, they failed to mention any good qualities or aspects of the film. One of these is the symbolism throughout the production. Every fairytale story in this story is effectively depicted as the true stories as well as a few new aspects. Also, Lisi should have included his thoughts on the musical aspects. In my opinion, the cast was perfect for the voices in the music as well as each character’s personality.

       Though the review by Jon Lisi was entirely against the film Into The Woods and claimed it was worth no one’s time, I still feel that it was an effective and enchanting film. Overall, this was a good movie and, I believe, was most definitely worth my time.